30 April 2012

Cree adds to TEMPO luminaire test services; Durham Technology Center accredited by NVLAP

LED chip, lamp and lighting fixture maker Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA has added TEMPO 24 to its suite of services for LED luminaires.

Supplementing the Thermal Electrical Mechanical Photometric Optical (TEMPO) Services (launched last September), the new service combines IES LM-79-08 photometric testing with an extensive set of LED performance tests that, the firm claims, surpasses all industry testing parameters and can help to ensure total system design and quality.

Cree currently provides TEMPO Services out of its Cree Technology Centers in Durham, NC and Santa Barbara, CA. The Cree Durham Technology Center has now been accredited by The National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), furthering the firm’s commitment to helping LED makers overcome design challenges and bring quality products to market faster.

“LM-79 is a necessary test and has become a requirement for doing business in the solid-state lighting [SSL] market,” says Mark McClear, Cree’s director of global applications engineering. “TEMPO 24 includes a fully accredited LM-79 test, but goes well beyond this or any currently existing standards,” he adds. “Cree has identified through our years of SSL experience nearly a dozen other potential problem sources of LED luminaire design. Our goal is the same as our customers – and their customers as well – quality SSL products that save energy. TEMPO 24 helps ensure this and gives customers the information they need to design and specify an SSL product with confidence,” McClear continues.

TEMPO 24 provides LED luminaire tests that are not offered by any other third-party testing facility, Cree claims. In addition to LM-79 testing (an approved method for taking electrical and photometric measurements), TEMPO 24 testing includes binning and color point evaluation, chemical compatibility and TM-21 lifetime projection. It examines all aspects of an LED design and provides a true assessment of luminaire performance that can be used to promote and distinguish a product. Cree says that each TEMPO service delivers an accurate, easy-to-understand TEMPO report that includes all testing results and relevant performance data.

Cree’s Durham Technology Center NVLAP accreditation (NVLAP lab code 500070-0) ensures that TEMPO measurements are performed according to the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) approved method for the electrical and photometric measurements of LED lighting – delivering lighting manufacturers consistent, accurate and repeatable measurements for luminaires. NVLAP accreditation signifies that a laboratory has demonstrated that it operates in accordance with NVLAP management and technical requirements pertaining to quality systems, personnel, accommodation and environment, test and calibration methods, equipment, measurement tractability, sampling, handling of tests and calibration items, and test and calibration reports. Cree laboratories also work to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requirements.

Cree is exhibiting in booth #130 at the Lightfair International (LFI 2012) trade fair in Las Vegas (9-11 May).

Tags: Cree LEDs

Visit: www.cree.com/tempo